Mr. Noodle

Mr. Noodle
Mr. Noodle

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

There are no Cockroaches in Utah

So, we're moving to Utah next month.

I can't really go into details at this point but we're doing it for family.

I have lived in a lot of places and moved around a lot (I know some of my readers can relate) and I cling to the dream of one day staying in one place long enough to settle in and unpack, but unfortunately North Carolina is not that place. It's too far away from family who need us.

I have been here nearly ten months now, if you can believe that. In that time I have worked four jobs (furniture store, live music night club, health food store and art gallery), met hundreds of people, swam in the Atlantic Ocean, seen all three of North Carolina's aquariums (and one in South Carolina), visited our nation's capital three times, found every Asian grocery store in a 150-mile radius, saw sorghum, tobacco and cotton growing for the first time, experienced fire ants, killed dozens of cockroaches in my house, and have learned to love the south and all its charms. I will miss being here.

As a result of my jobs (especially managing the bar) and my relationship to the brewery (i.e. my husband's job), I have managed to build a lot of social capital in a way that was never possible in any of the other places I have lived. There are some really amazing people in this community and I have come to develop some great friendships. I am also pretty sure that I speak differently now - I bet if I go visit my people in Canada now they will notice how differently I pronounce vowels...

I have about four weeks to pack up the house, we will be traveling over Christmas. We have family near Salt Lake City, where we are moving to. I haven't been to SLC since our honeymoon in 2009, but certainly the few times I have been through Utah I have enjoyed it there. It is a beautiful state.

It turns out that Salt Lake City is a hotbed of health informatics research, the field I have not been in since I graduated with my Master of Science in 2009 and to which I hope to return. I have already put out some feelers and with any luck will be gainfully employed with the University of Utah in some capacity by my 40th birthday in March. Dan... well, you know, he can do any number of things well so he is extremely employable.

What about the Mormons, you say? I'm sure they won't hurt us. Just now we are in the land of the Free Will Baptists, and I think the Mormons speak a different language entirely, so we are not concerned. Even if we were at risk of converting I'm sure we wouldn't be eligible because we can't have kids and one wife is all Dan can handle. (Though having a second wife in the house to keep up with the housework would be useful, haha!)

So once again we will be divesting ourselves of the stuff we have accumulated and buy ourselves a trailer for the essentials. Dan has some wood and metal tools that will be coming with us, and hopefully one day soon he will have a shop where he can build stuff for us. But it will be, unfortunately, starting over again. We have very little furniture so will have to buy a dining set and living room furniture when we get there - we will have time for thrift store shopping when I get there I hope.

It's a bittersweet move. Just when I feel settled, we need to uproot, but I am happy to be nearer to family (my sister and mother are ecstatic - cheaper flights for them to come visit). I am also happy to be living in a city again that has things like coffee shops that are open evenings and weekends, bookstores, yarn shops, public transit, orchestra concerts, and access to nature. Also: IKEA! (Our nearest one here is clear across the state and is an entire day trip to get there and back).

I'll be sending out holiday greeting cards in the next week - if I don't have your mailing address, please let me know and I will be sure to send you one!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

I've been a terrible blogger

I don't think it's just me. I have been hearing reports of lots of people letting their blog fall to the wayside. In fact, just the other day on twitter, one of my friends said "Is blogging still a thing?"

Sigh. I want to be blogging more, honest I do. For some reason I am finding it really hard to get to my computer. Sometimes that includes *finding* my computer. All joking aside, I feel like I have been working away at all kinds of things and blogging seems like leisure time that I can't seem to muster without feeling guilty*

An update of what's happening. I am now six weeks into my job at the health food store. Really? That sure went by fast! I am getting more hours than I complained of at the beginning and have really settled in. I really like it there and the people I work with. It's tiring and engaging work, but I learn something every day and have fun doing it. Judy tells me every day she appreciates my work and let me tell you, as an employee, that goes a long way in my books. When I first started, Judy told me that she would sell anything I made. Thus, I have been busy making soap!

These last two weeks have seen me in full-on soap production as I have whipped up eight batches which are now curing in the room that was supposed to be our dining room but has actually turned into my craft room/office area. They will be ready around Thanksgiving at the end of November. Since then, Cynthia at the Overland Gallery has also offered to sell them. This makes me happy! Back in Victoria, everyone and their neighbour makes soap but out here, no one is doing it, so there was definitely a niche there for me. What else can I do?

In the spring time I planted TONS of sunflowers and marigold seeds, mostly that were given to me by friends. I have since harvested all the seed heads they have produced and I have hundreds of thousands of those seeds. I could separate them all out and put them in packets for the spring. Wouldn't that be fun?

Kinston has some really weird and strict health restrictions around food production or you know I would be all over that.

Dan and I took a trip to Asheville a few weeks back - I didn't take a lot of photos but maybe a blog post about that is in order. Next weekend I'll be heading off to DC for the AMIA symposium I mentioned in my last post. I have picked out all my outfits for those four days and they are all black, so I'll see if I can do some switching up. I get to take the train! Dan has booked me on the Amtrak and I am so excited to be on a train. It even has wifi!

There has been tons of stuff I have wanted to blog about these past few weeks but didn't write down any of the ideas so I'm falling short here of what to talk about, so this is probably the best place to sign off, especially since dinner is ready (Dan is cooking!)

*knitting and reading novels also fall under this category